Crazy macro

[Overread]

zamanakhan check out John Hallman's work here:
Flickr: johnhallmen's Photostream

by far and away not only a talented photographer, but also one who knows a lot about his lenses and setups. He shoots a lot of high magnification work and uses a lot of various kinds of setup to get the magnifications. Many very clearly show that the MPE is not the only way to go for this kind of work.
Note that quite a lot of his photos are photostacks of sample (ie dead) insects. This lets him get even more out of the optics by layering the depth of field over the subject. It gives fantastic results - however don't let that blind you' - he's also got a lot of live work in there as well.

He's also a good contact if you get keen and want some advice on setups - though do check his flickr sets for his equipment lists and reviews before.

 

[zamanakhan]

4) Reverse lens mounting. Mounting a shorter focal length lens onto the 100mm would let you boost magnification. A reversed 50mm would give you around 2:1 - a reversed 35mm just under 3:1.

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Good recommendations. As per #4 &amp; #6, this guy <a href="http://thomasshahan.com/photos" target="_blank">Photos : ThomasShahan.com</a> uses a reversed 28mm manual lens stacked on a 2X teleconverter. 2X teleconverters are pretty notorious for making 'soft' images when used in the traditional way. I think you can probably tell from his photos that, as Overread has said, it doesn't quite have that effect on macro... his images are quite sharp.<br><br><br>
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I wouldn't recommend extension tubes AT ALL for what you are trying to accomplish. Just to get to 2:1 magnification, you're going to need 100mm worth of extension tubes which means you'll have to buy 2 sets. This doesn't even address all the slop in the tubes and strain you'll be putting on the camera body mount. If anything, you might want to look into a bellows. You can get cheap ones for $50 or you can get nice name brand ones that are precision tools. Either way, they'll take the stress off the camera mount and you'll get adjustable extension all the way up to ~200mm (varies by bellows unit).

<br><br>i'd like to try this as well but i think my 2x will not mount with my
28mm 2.8 as the newer 2x convertors have a big protruding lens bit
making it impossible to mount anything reversed on it unless the lens is
recessed. I may consider getting a manual focus 2x converter. The thing is i dont want to go out buying everything and in the end getting the same result but having 3 diffrent ways to do it. Ideally i'd like to do it with a greatest working distance and lowest cost.<br><br>I already have the 105 vr macro a 2x teleconverter, a 28mm manual focus 2.8 lens. I am just wondering if it is better for me to get close up filters for this kit, or reversing ring, or get a manual 2x converter to mount the 28 with etc.